Salvadoran Vote Counting Shows Duarte's Party Wins

April 3, 1985|By United Press International

SAN SALVADOR — The first official results of legislative elections were released Tuesday and confirmed an upset victory for President Jose Napoleon Duarte's party, giving it a majority in over half of El Salvador's provinces.

With his moderate Christian Democrats leading the vote count for a 60- member legislative assembly, Duarte appeared to have won voter approval for his agrarian reform program and his peace talks with leaders of leftist rebels.

''According to official results from the country's interior, the Christian Democrats have won a clear advantage in eight of the country's 14 provinces over the rightist coalition,'' said Mario Samayoa, president of the Central Electoral Council.

Samayoa said results from the other six provinces ''would be made known before the weekend, or earlier if all goes well.''

The Christian Democrats' own tally showed their party leading with 53.7 percent of the vote, compared with 37 percent for the coalition of the ultrarightist Nationalist Republican Alliance, or ARENA, and the National Conciliation Party.

The rightists had been expected to do better than Duarte's U.S.-backed government in Sunday's elections.

The Christian Democrats, basing its results on 85 percent of the returns, said it had already won 34 seats in the legislative assembly and some 200 out of 262 mayoralties at stake in the elections.

Roberto d'Aubuisson, the leader of ARENA who has complained of U.S. support for Duarte, has blocked many Christian Democrat initiatives as his party and other rightist parties hold 33 seats in the current legislature.

If the predictions hold, Duarte should be able to pass into law his judicial and agrarian reforms considered crucial to undercutting support for the armed left.

It would also be seen as a vote of confidence in his talks with the guerrillas to try and end five years of civil war.

Council officials reported more than 1 million of 2.7 million registered voters went to the polls, a slight drop from 1.4 million voters who voted in presidential runoff elections last year.

Observers said the lower turnout was due to inaccurate voting lists and the displacement of an estimated 1 million voters because of the conflict.

An official statement said ''guerrillas carried out 16 actions against the electoral process Sunday all across the country.'' One civilian and one soldier were killed during the transportation shutdown.